HIV menace worst in eastern India, says survey

Volunteers and the members of a social organisation holds ribbon shaped placards for an HIV/AIDS awareness messages during rally in Kolkata on November 30, 2012, on the eve of World AIDS Day. The UNAIDS agency says some 2.5 million Indians are living with HIV, many of them ostracised by their communities. AFP

The human immunodeficiency (HIV) virus is no longer restricted to six states, where it struck first. HIV has spread far and wide all over India with 10 low prevalence states now accounting for 57 per cent of new infections. 

Eastern India fares the worst. In the last one year, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal accounted for almost one-third of new adult infections, says the government’s latest HIV/Aids survey report released here on Friday. Add Uttar Pradesh and close to 40 per cent of new infections came from these five states in the last one year.  India is estimated to have around 1.16 lakh new HIV infections among adults and around 14,500 new infections among children in 2011.

Rising trends of new HIV infections are seen in four new states in the North East besides traditional hot spots in Nagaland and Manipur, underscoring the need to shift the policy attention to low-prevalence but high-vulnerability states.

HIV prevalence among young population (15-24 years) is declining in all but four states, out of which three – Jharkhand, Odisha and Tripura – are in the east.

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